Our local officials who are regularly and commensurately compensated out of the taxes of the people for running the affairs of government should be held collectively responsible and accountable for all the inadequacies, problems, and difficulties that the general public are suffering or confronted with everyday in relation to the basic services that are supposed to be satisfactorily, efficiently, and effectively delivered. These political officials who during their campaign speeches had promised heaven and earth to serve their employers (especially the taxpayers) with the highest standards of performance, with all honesty, in strict compliance with law, and in accordance with code of ethical and moral standards for government officials and employees, must be constantly monitored, vigilantly watched, and stringently evaluated as ordinary employees. Precisely we elected them to serve the public not to behave like lords, masters, dictators, emperors, and kings. While we do respect them as our laborers, at all times, they should consider us as the ultimate and indispensable source of their bread and butter or subsistence no matter what rank or positions they occupy. Even the President of the Republic, is just an employee of the taxpayers, unless he serves pro bono publico. In fact, the real public servant is one who serves the people voluntarily or without any monetary compensation.

So there is nothing to be haughty about being an officer or an executive in any public office. The irrefutable truth is whether you are an ordinary employee or a top executive, you are just a servant of the people. You can be reprimanded and criticized if you don’t measure up to the task or position you occupy. Whatever is accomplished by you in the performance of your duties and responsibilities is not to be trumpeted because you have been paid by the taxpayers to do that. There is nothing outstanding about undertaking or constructing a project that is funded by the taxpayers because you have already been compensated to do that. Everything you accomplished using public funds is not your accomplishment but the taxpayers’. You can only be rated outstanding if you do other things beyond the call of duty or for those projects that you accomplish without using public funds.

The mega irony about today’s political bureaucracy is the ridiculous reality that many top government officials conduct and behave themselves not as public servants but more of dictators, tyrants, and autocrats. The taxpayers who are supposed to be the masters and employers of these public servants, sadly for the most part, become slaves and servants. These ungrateful and viciously arrogant public servants even have the gall to pass laws that will place behind bars the very people who feed them and maintain all their needs including sustaining their pleasure activities and junkets. Throughout their entire term of office, their main priority is to impose taxes, taxes, and taxes. Taxes and rents are even shamelessly collected from the taxpayers for the use of facilities which they themselves have funded. The most unethical part about many of these public officials is that they want always to be lavishly praised, featured, headlined, and honored for every task that they do while receiving compensation for doing it.

By the way, haven’t you realized that even our eyes are now taxed to see projects that have been funded by the taxes we paid? Undisputedly, this to me is the most outstanding achievement of our local government to date!